The internet is driven by content pure and simple. If you're logging onto the web you're probably looking for some type of content whether that's photos, videos, news, etc. However the biggest form of content is probably articles and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Well I take that back. This trend might change if Apple decides to invent a way to download information and apps into our brains. Maybe I should go and buy the domain iBrain.com. In any event for now it's safe to say people will probably still need to read for the foreseeable future. That's great news for you because websites need folks to write this content and you can get paid for doing it. So we'll explore this option in my Scripted.com Review down below.
What is Scripted.com?
Scripted.com is basically a content marketplace where businesses can hire “professional” writers who specialize in certain industries and writing styles. Businesses can hire writers to produce various type of content at extremely competitive rates. The type of content can be blog posts, articles, website pages, social media posts, etc.
How Do I Make Money with Scripted.com?
You can apply to be a writer for Scripted.com. Unlike other content mills Scripted tends to be a bit more selective about the writers that can join their website. The process is as follows:
- Create an account, it's free.
- Select your area of expertise
- Submit some of your previous work.
- If approved, you can then start taking on jobs.
- That's about the process in a nutshell.
That said it doesn't appear that you need to have a PHD in English to write for Scripted.com but you should be able to hold your own. That probably leaves me out since my writing is littered with spelling and grammar errors. Yes you'll find many here. Sigh….
How Much Money Can You Make with Scripted.com?
From what I can gather the pay is anywhere from $20 – $50 for a 500-600 blog posts. Assuming you don't have any edits to the article you submitted, you can expect to get paid within 2 days via paypal. However don't quote me on this since they don't really make it easy to find. This brings me to the exciting part of our show, my complaints.
Scripted.com Complaints
Like all companies Scripted.com is far from perfect so we might as well cover some of the things that may get your panties in a bunch (or boxers if you prefer). Just keep in mind it doesn't mean the company is a flat-out scam because of these complaints but it's just good for you to know.
What's up with all the secrets?
I personally hate when companies aren't transparent about things like when you get paid, how you get paid and how much you'll get paid. Maybe I'm a little slow but I didn't see a prominent FAQ section within the writers area that would answer many of the pressing questions people would have about this opportunity. Fortunately I could hunt down the information but some of it may be wrong. It would just make more sense if Scripted.com made this information front and center. It makes me feel like they have a dirty secret to hide even if they don't!
More payment options please….
I've never had a problem using paypal. In fact I actually prefer it over checks or gift cards. But some folks don't have paypal or can't use paypal. So it would be nice if Scripted.com offered other options such as direct deposit or slow ass checks sent via snail mail. It would give people more options and open up this opportunity to others. It's a minor complaint but it's one nonetheless.
You Don't Own Me… or do you?
From what I understand you don't own the content you sell on Scripted.com. This is very different from working with content mills where you do have ownership of your articles and can request for their removal. Once the business has purchased your article it becomes their property. So this may not jive well for some writers.
Slow as molasses…
I've read some complaints that Scripted.com can be slow with their application process and writing review process. I'm not sure if this is a regular occurrence of just limited to a few people. But its something that has been mentioned.
So Is Scripted.com Legitimate?
From what I can tell it is legit. There are always writers that complain that these type of websites pay writers too little or cheapen real writers. That may be the case. But for better or worse the market dictates what writers are worth online. Given the alternatives of content mills, this seems to be a higher quality content marketplace given what I've seen.
But I would love to hear your first hand experience with this website. So chime in down below. I make a decent living writing as well but I prefer to do it for myself so I can write about any topic I choose and still make money doing it. If that's something you're interested in doing as well then you need to check out My Top Work At Home Recommendation!
Well that's all for me folks. Again, I'd love to hear your two cents down below. So feel free to chime in.
Thanks for reading!
Eddy with a y.
I used to be very happy with Scripted. The work used to be plentiful, the team responsive and all was good in my world.
However, in mid-July, all that changed. They made some changes to their infrastructure (got rid of Smartmatch jobs) without telling their writers, which had a devastating effect on my income. I went from supporting myself to 2 or 3 jobs in as many months. This left me scrambling to find another platform and other clients to fill that void. I’ve never been successful in getting enough volume of projects with their current platform of “pitching” for jobs.
Their “help” desk is also not helpful to writers unless you are a Gold-rated writer. I was a gold-rated writer until I mysteriously got demoted and no one seemed to be able to tell me why or how I could correct the mysterious problem that got me demoted.
I recently requested help with an impossible deadline. I finished the job the afternoon before and upon waking the next morning I saw that I had a message that left me with 1.5 hours to correct a huge list of unnecessary revisions. I don’t usually get revision requests so it was a complete surprise. I’m imagining it had something to do with my mysterious demotion.
I knew there was no way I could complete all of it in 1.5 hours so I requested an extension. I was refused. Flat-out. I was told to message the client and ask. I explained this was an editorial deadline, not a deadline from the client. I was still refused and told to contact the client. I know from experience there was no way the client would get back to me in the time allotted. So, instead of being able to do an excellent job that was up to my standards, I had to half-ass it, just to get it done.
Another issue is their editors. I am a professional proofreader so I rarely make mistakes. I’m not perfect but errors tend to jump out at me. Sadly, some of the Scripted editors are woefully unqualified to hold the title of editor. I have had many issues where the editor actually created mistakes when “editing” my pieces. These aren’t small mistakes either. They are glaring in-your-face mistakes which the writer ends up being blamed for since we have no way of correcting the created errors once they are sent to the client.
They have also started a practice of buying reviews. They pay their writers with a $20 gift card if they’ll leave a review on one of their selected platforms, i. e. Trustpilot, Yelp, and something else. I find this a very shady practice so I’m leaving this review absolutely free.
I truly wish I had better things to say but in my years with the company, they don’t treat their writers very well and the pay is abhorrent. You are better off going with a private company (not a content farm) that needs a writer. That’s what I ended up doing and as a freelancer, I am being paid more than double what Scripted paid me.
No, Scripted, you are not sharing my happy place anymore.
I’ve been trying to cancel my scripted membership for over a month and they’ve continued to take payments and overcharged me, this month they’ve taken almost £3000 out of my account. I’ve emailed them but not sure where or what to do, I’ll contact my bank tomorrow to see if they can stop payments.
Scripted is a scam avoid avoid avoid , they’ll lure you in on a free trial and then start billing you $200usd / month and won’t let you cancel.
Same!!! As a consumer who looked into working with Scripted and was left utterly disappointed and scammed out of a LOT of money…
SAVE YOUR TIME, BUSINESS, AND THE MONEY THEY WILL CHARGE YOU AN EXORBITANT AMOUNT EVEN AFTER YOU CANCEL AND WITHOUT A REFUND. $199/MONTH. RUN!!!! THERE ARE GREAT COPYWRITERS OUT THERE AND BETTER SERVICES AND SITES THAN THIS ONE. UNSCRUPULOUS, AND KIND OF A SCAM.
Not exactly a scam, but not a professionally run company, either. I recently wrote some content for them for a neurosurgeon. It was a rush job, which they call “superhero” jobs, and it needed to be done quickly.
Within a day or so of me submitting it, Scripted contacted me to say that there had been a mistake and the client didn’t want it. They said, “we’ll just remove it from your dashboard, no worries.” When I complained, they stopped answering me but eventually paid me half the fee while taking ownership of the pieces.
They also copied another writer on the email who apparently also did some work. I contacted her and she let me know that they had never paid her at all for her pieces. Scripted used to be okay, but it’s all gone downhill and is approaching scammy territory for sure.
Clients can get the same quality work for less money by just going through a private writer. Content mills are struggling and I suppose this is proof that this one isn’t able to pay their writers as promised. It’s sad, really.
I’m pretty sure this is a scam. I wrote a “sample” article for them for which they read and said there were several grammatical errors. I can assure you there were no grammatical errors whatsoever (I have a B.A. in Communications and have been a professional writer for ten years). My guess is that they kept the article I wrote and it will appear on some blog in the future.
That’s an interesting theory. Thanks for sharing your experience.
It appears as if it is a scam. The writing proficiency test is timed. Luckily, I write, then paste into apps like that. It wasn’t long before I found matches of what I had written after I was turned down for approval. Total scam.
Chris, thanks for sharing your experience and findings.
The site is part of a larger scam. I’ve written for clients obtained through other freelance sites who turned out to be scammers. They persuade you to work off those sites with promises of payment upon completion and then disappear without paying once you remit the contracted work. Go on any of the freelance sites and you’ll run into dozens of these scammers posting jobs over and over.
So, I did a Copyscape search of the articles I wrote to find where they ended up. Contacted those websites and found they all had bought their articles from Scripted.com.
So, I went to Scripted and applied for a writing position thinking I’d sell my work directly to cut out the scammers. I applied numerous times using different emails and it didn’t matter what I did, how closely I followed the guidelines of the writing test, my candidacy was always rejected claiming that I didn’t follow the guidelines.
That makes no sense because the scammers who hired me are obviously using the site, and they couldn’t write at all. I assumed English wasn’t even their native language. Yet, somehow, they pass the test, but I couldn’t.
That’s when it dawned on me that the scammers run Scripted.com. They use it to secure clients and then scam legitimate writers into doing all the work for free.
There is a special place in hell for these people.
Wow. That’s crazy Ron. I wonder if this happening consistently. Either way it’s good to know. We appreciate you sharing.
The first time I took their English proficiency test, it was my fault that I failed. I accidentally hit the add a new tab on my phone. So yes, the test was invalid.
The next time, I took it on the computer. I know that I passed — it said that I did not pass.
Then I found your wonderful review. I do not wish to participate in a community that is not honest. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing your experience Diamond. I appreciate it.
Crissie, Fast forward a year and a half. What has your experience been with Scripted since the initial contact?
It may not be a scam, but they will grow to be hated. Forcing themselfs into server logs, what a trash tactic. Stay away, they are just spammers.
Can you give more details as to what you experienced and why you think they are spammers. Too often people use the internet to bad mouth a company because of a grudge or dislike of a policy. So I just want to make sure this isn’t the case here. So if you can shed more light I think that would be more helpful to anyone reading this review.
Really nice blog with some great money making ideas!
Thanks Robert!
Thanks for this hot tip, Eddy! Best believe that as a full-time professional freelance web content writer of the last 4 years, I WILL followup on this latest and seemingly greatest job lead! Meanwhile, rest assured that I SHALL return with further updates PRONTO, Brother Writer.
Glad someone liked this one Crissie! All I heard was crickets out there! lol Definitely keep me posted and thanks for chiming in. It was getting lonely out here. LOL
Rehi, Eddy! True to my word, I’m back to report good news and maybe less optimistic discrepant data about Scripted’s strict policy of cryptic secrecy pertaining to writer payment.
After signing up, I received an auto-email with full details re: alleged prompt invoicing and payment via Bill.com. I’ve sent you a .pdf screenshot of that email as well as an MS Word .docx file attachment via external email that depicts a screenshot of specs for an actual writing gig displayed on my new Scripted user interface. Check ’em out and let me know what you think ASAP!
Hey Crissie,
Thanks for following up. I appreciate it. Feel free to share that here. You can upload all that for free on dropbox and share the link here so everyone can benefit from it if you don’t mind. Thanks again for sharing the information!